A smart factory includes the combination of production, information and communication technologies, with the potential for integration throughout the supply chain. They were known as "the factories of the future", but today they are a reality and are here to stay.

During the pandemic, a context that reached all productive sectors, industries were forced to rethink certain structures and operations in the face of the absence of their workforce in person. In order to maintain productivity, reduce physical effort, improve work quality and monitor processes, many of them opted for innovation and opted to transform their manufacturing centers into smart factories or industries 4.0. 

But what is in essence a Smart Factory? The smart factory is characterized by havingdigitized, connected and automated processes, through different technologies such as artificial vision, industrial robotics, internet of things, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, among others. These industries integrate intelligent machines capable of executing repetitive actions into their processes. In parallel, they have a constant flow of information updated in real time that allows greater control and optimized decision-making.

“These technologically integrated value chains generate a huge volume of data every second that must be processed in real time.In these processes, the quality of the data is as important as the products themselves, that is, it implies a historical challenge for the industry and for information technologies. Without flexible and scalable IT infrastructures, it would not be possible to overcome the challenges of Industry 4.0. “ says Erico Tatemoto, Market Manager FI2S of Furukawa Electric .

Advantages of smart factories

The benefits of industries 4.0 or smart go beyond physical production and encompass functions such as planning, supply chain logistics, and even product development. Some of the advantages of this model are:

●    Greater efficiency and flexibility : By automating processes, factories can significantly increase their production rates.
●    Higher quality and control: Machines carry out repetitive tasks with precision and accuracy. In addition, in smart factories all departments are connected, allowing processes to be monitored at all times.
●    More profitability: By increasing the quality of production and reducing production costs, Industry 4.0 enables companies' operating margins to increase.
●    Reduction of environmental impact : The environment will benefit from more efficient manufacturing processes, for example through additive manufacturing that uses less material and reduces waste. On the other hand, this change also integrates renewable energies, which reduces the environmental impact.

However, to carry out this technological transformation it is essential to have a network infrastructure robust, reliable and fail-safe, in order not to suffer interruptions or interferences in the production lines and to withstand aggressive industrial environments with impacts, vibration, have protection against the entry of solid and liquid particles, chemical agents and fires. That is why fiber optic communications networks are ideally positioned to be the backbone of Industry 4.0 , since they offer the best benefits. For example, data is moved by pulses of light, which makes the network much faster. Likewise, they do not generate electromagnetic noise and, although they are very thin, flexible and light cables, which occupy much less space than copper cable, fiber-supported networks are robust and safe.

To meet this need, the company Furukawa Electric Latam offers network infrastructure solutions specially designed to withstand the conditions of an industrial environment, which help its clients to make correct and fast decisions and to modernize the wired and wireless communication networks. 

“ From Furukawa we work with three fundamental pillars: Consulting to support the operation with specialized engineering from pre-design to after-sales; Reliability, through a data network infrastructure based on robust connectivity that avoids instability situations; and Intelligence, with an adequate portfolio of solutions and products prepared to support new applications . “ adds Erico Tatemoto.